Readers of The Press & Journal and Evening Express have shared their thoughts on coronavirus restrictions, face coverings and more as part of our Big Covid Survey.
We found a larger proportion of people in the north-east felt the measures imposed to curb the spread of the virus were too harsh, compared to those in the north.
And we’ve also seen the pandemic’s impact on mental health appears to have hit younger age groups the hardest.
We invited readers of pressandjournal.co.uk to share their views on the topic and answer our interactive survey between February 25 and March 17.
Overall we received 380 responses – but not every question was answered by each respondent. We also removed answers from those outside the P&J and Evening Express distribution area.
Catching Covid and testing for it
We crunched the numbers and found 27% of respondents from the north and north-east of Scotland have had Covid since the start of the pandemic.
But more than half said they’d taken at least one PCR test – the “gold standard” for confirming if you have coronavirus.
Meanwhile our survey showed 26% take lateral flow tests every few days, and 35% do if they’re about to mix with another household.
However, 31% reported they never use lateral flow devices (LFDs) to self-test.
Additionally, just 33% of survey respondents log the results of their lateral flow tests every time.
Health bosses say these findings, regardless of if the test comes back positive or negative, can be hugely beneficial to understanding the spread of the virus throughout the north-east.
NHS Grampian’s head of health intelligence, Jillian Evans, said: “You wouldn’t ice half a cake, so don’t leave this job half done either.”
Was Scotland too strict?
In our survey, we asked readers for their thoughts on how Scotland has handled the Covid pandemic.
Overall, they felt the orders imposed north of the border were too harsh – with 56% saying the rules should have been looser.
The use of face coverings also prompted quite a divided response.
When taking all of the survey answers into account, there was an almost 50/50 split between those happy to keep wearing one, and those who want the rule lifted.
Mental health toll
Half of our respondents also said their mental health had declined over the last two years.
Many others said there had been no change, while just 3% felt there had been an improvement.
While many people are finding the situation challenging, we are being encouraged to keep going “for a little while longer” still.
Jillian Evans added: “I want to say how proud and grateful I am to the people of the north-east.
“Over the last two years they have shown good judgement and made small changes which make a big difference.
“We are moving to a different place with Covid, but right now it continues to put health and social care services under huge pressure.
“Keeping going for a little while longer is a simple way of showing support to staff working hard on the frontline.”
